Underneath a touching picture of himself as a toddler being carried by his famous father, he wrote: "Very sorry and sad to say it's true. I'll be offline for a while. Love to all."

Legend: David Bowie in 1964 (Image: Rex)

Born David Robert, the singer decided to embrace a stage a name just before the release of his debut record Man of Words, Man of Music in 1967, renaming himself after 19th Century American frontiersman Jim Bowie and the knife he made famous.

Shortly afterwards, he met his first wife Angie, who was working at his record label.

The pair hit it off instantly and she went on to have a huge impact on his career, even helping to create his alter-ego Ziggy Stardust.